Who We Are | Where We Come From | Our Name | Things We Love | Our Board

Who We Are

The Thread has a mission to support the development of those who want to be the presence of love in the world. We want to live in a world where we build (and repair) relationships of solidarity, spiritually surrender, make space so we can show up messy and alive, and engage in meaningful ritual. With community as the container, we want to honor both ancient spiritual truths and practices while also honoring emerging truths and practices — all in service of building the courage needed to keep our hearts open in these times.

Where We Come From

The Thread Interfaith Seminary follows an interspiritual lineage first articulated by Brother Wayne Teasdale in The Mystic Heart: Discovering a Universal Spirituality in the World’s Religions (1999). Our beloved teacher, Reverend Diane Berke, founded the One Spirit Interfaith Seminary (2002), where many of us were trained and prepared for ministry. Her ethos—grounded in interspirituality, relational learning, and spiritual practice as a way of life—flows directly into The Thread’s vision and has been a living example of what it means to minister from a place of love.

(Read the full story.)

Things We Love

interspirituality, belonging, activism, spaciousness, appreciation, authenticity, trustworthiness, somatic aliveness; the collective; solidarity and interconnection; earthy-ness; alleviation of unnecessary suffering; responsiveness to the moment; right relationship; healing/repair

Our Name

The Thread’s name was inspired by a William Stafford poem called “The Way It Is”:

“The Way It Is” by William Stafford

There’s a thread you follow. It goes among
things that change. But it doesn’t change.
People wonder about what you are pursuing.
You have to explain about the thread.
But it is hard for others to see.
While you hold it you can’t get lost.
Tragedies happen; people get hurt
or die; and you suffer and get old.
Nothing you do can stop time’s unfolding.
You don’t ever let go of the thread.

From Ask Me: 100 Essential Poems and used by kind permission of Graywolf Press.

Our Board

At The Thread, our board gathers not to govern from above, but to listen from within. We are guided by a spirit of shared stewardship—where leadership is circled up, not top down, and every decision is rooted in care for the whole. This board exists to serve the unfolding wisdom of the community, holding space for its longings, its questions, and its sacred becoming.